Improvement in rails for street railways



MARIA L. GHIRARDINI. 'y

Rails for Street Railways.` `110.141,217.

Patented luly 29,1873.

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UNITED STATES PATENT FICE;

MARIA L. GHIEAEDINI, 0E PROVIDENCE, RHODE ISLAND;

IMPROVEMENT IN RAILS FOR STREET RAILWAVS.

Specfiication forming part of Letters Patent No. 14 [,217, dated July.'29, 1873; application Ii'ed May 17, 1873.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MARIA L. GHIRARDINI, of Providence, in the State ofRhode Island, have invented Improvements in Rails for Street Railwaysand Gar-Wheels adapted for the same, of which the following is aspecification:

My invention relates to a novel construction of rails for streetrailways, adapted for bly, having but one bearing-surface on the rail,or the least possible contact, and that as nearly as possible in onedirection only, thus reducing the friction to the minimum. The rail Ilay so that its highest lines shall be about flush with the roadway, andits inner and outer edges of equal elevation, thus offering the leastpossible obstruction to the ordinary travel of carriages, cars, andother vehicles upon or across the roadway.

In the drawings, Figure 1 represents a crosssection of one style oftrack made in accordance with my invention; and- Figs. 2, 3, and 4,other forms or modifications thereof 5 Fig. 2 also showing a pair ofwheels adapted to run thereon.

The rail A, it will be seen, is not heavy and unyielding, as isordinarily the case, but, instead, is cut or otherwise prepared fromthin metal, preferably of steel, and has downward# projecting sides 1,which embrace the wooden or other bed-rail or sleeper 2, upon which itis sustained, and to which it is secured 'by nails, bolts, or any otherappropriate means, the sleeper 2 having a concave on its upper face toreceive the concave part of the rail.

Another peculiarity of my track' is that I can make the turn-outssubstantially the same as the other parts ofthe track, merely curvingthetrack ofthe turn-out as desired,no switches being required, eachtrack running into the other continuously and without essential orabrupt break; and my wheel will readily run from one track into anotherwithout impediment, jar, or noise. The outer edge of the outer rail inthe turn-outs may be laid higher or made higher'than the inner, ifrequired.

In the rail shown in Fig. 3 the same general principle prevails as inFig. 1, the main difference being that I employ a series of parallelconcaves, in any one of which the wheel may run; but, as before, havingbut one bearingsurface, or the least practicable contact.v An advantageof this form of construction is that if the wheel should get forced outof one of the concaves or grooves of the track it will readily fall intothe next, and then run on without obstruction. The facilities forgetting back into the track, in case the car should by any accident runoff, are the same in this case as in that of the track with the singleconcave, inasmuch as each side of the rail isof equa-l elevation andabout iiush with the roadway.

The grooves in this track need not be all alike; the center one may bethe deepest, as in Fig. 2, those on each side of it less deep, and so onfor any number of grooves in each rail,

the essential condition required being simply that, when properlyrunning, the wheel shall have but one bearing-surface in its contactwith the rail. It is evident, also, that on each side of a centralgroove the rail may be nearly level instead of grooved, and then haveanother rise, and then similar level spaces. Such a construction isshown in Fig. 2, vwhile in Fig. 3 the grooves or concaves are all ofabout equal depths, they may, however, be of unequal breadths; thebroadest being either the center or not, as preferred.

Fig. 4 is an enlarged view of the track in cross-section, showing howthe rail, of whichever described form, may rest in the sleeper or bed,and so as to allow a spring or yield due to the mode of laying it. Insuch case I should not fasten the rails to the bed or track by boltsthrough their upper surface, but, on the contrary, should drive themthrough their sides, as shown in said figure. Indeed, this mode offastening may be applied to all my rails which turn down over the bed 5and thus may be avoided the possibility ofthe heads of the bolts orspikes rising above the rails and obstruetingthe free movement of thewheel-an inconvenience of daily occurrence with coinnion rails as nowlaid.

Instead of such fastening by bolts or spikes, the rail, especially thatshown in Fig. 4, may be secured to its bed by means of rods connectingthe two opposite sides of the rail, which should be deep enough for thatpurpose, and having a nut on one end and a head on the other.

With these modes of fastening the rails may be provided with ears, asshown in Fig. 5, to receive the rods or spikes, and this will give abetter hold, while less steel Would be required to make the rail. i

Witnesses:

ROYAL LEE, CHAs. M. READ.

